What to Know
Lots of people are saying the same thing after President Donald Trump insisted he’s not sleeping during White House events: Sure, Grandpa. At this point, we’ve seen evidence that suggests Trump is sleeping during meetings with our own eyes. In November 2025, photos of Trump dozing off during an Oval Office announcement started circulating. During multiple other obligations, Trump has seemingly fallen asleep. But according to him, he was not actually sleeping.
He was just ‘relaxing’… with his eyes closed.
President Donald Trump seemed to struggle to keep his eyes open during a roughly 20-minute stretch at an Oval Office event on drug-price cuts.
— The Washington Post (@washingtonpost) November 8, 2025
Sitting behind the Resolute Desk, Trump’s eyes repeatedly closed while his deputies took turns giving remarks. https://t.co/bBrgTWcULi pic.twitter.com/040BaDoleM
And people are understandably not buying Trump’s explanation. During a recent interview with the Wall Street Journal, Trump said that while it might look like he’s sleeping, he’s actually just … resting his eyes? “I’ll just close [my eyes],” he said. “It’s very relaxing to me.”
In response to this claim, one critic wrote, “Yeah, fascist Grandpa. It’s called napping.” People pointed out that they’ve heard the exact same excuse from people who were definitely sleeping, but didn’t want to admit it. “This is the type of excuse my drunk uncle would give after Christmas lunch,” one person pointed out. Another person said they used the same excuse in college when they were sleeping in class but claimed to be blinking or resting their eyes.
And sure, maybe “resting your eyes” is “relaxing.” As one person on Reddit wrote, “Yeah, it’s relaxing to me too. That’s why I usually only do it when I’m about to sleep.”
Trump also said photographers have taken photos of him blinking.
Sleepy Donald Trump is currently fighting for his life to stay awake during his cabinet meeting. Truly the lowest energy President in history pic.twitter.com/njgxxSwiQW
— Marco Foster (@MarcoFoster_) December 2, 2025
In attempting to explain why there are actual photos that show him sleeping during important events, Trump said, “Sometimes they’ll take a picture of me blinking, blinking, and they’ll catch me with the blink.”
Again, people did not believe this in the slightest. Jokingly, one Redditor wrote, “i, too, am the kind of guy who takes 10+ minute blinks,” while others added that they sometimes “blink” for eight hours and snore while “blinking.”
Given that Trump has been photographed and filmed with his eyes closed, a lot of people are choosing to believe what they’ve seen over Trump’s claims that he is definitely not sleeping. But of course, members of the Trump administration have also defended the president.
During her controversial interview with Vanity Fair, White House chief of staff Susie Wile said, “He’s not asleep. He’s got his eyes closed and his head leaned back … and, you know, he’s fine.” Similarly, after photos of Trump sleeping went viral in November 2025, White House spokesperson Taylor Rogers told CNN that “the President was not sleeping.” Hmm, OK.
